Disclaimer: Recognizable characters are not my own - I just borrow them.
Pairing: Danny/Clara and River/Doctor
Rated: G
Summary: Danny stumbles across the Doctor's bedroom.
Notes: Written: 12/12/15
Title from the obvious reference.
Thanks to Beverly and Megs for reading something that isn't (at least, at first glance) explicitly River/Doctor but, of course, totally actually is.
Takes place during "In the Forest of the Night".
Bigger on the inside.
"Umm, Miss," begins Ruby, in the kind of bored voice only a child of 11 can manage and that she quite excels in, "Billy's missing."
"Missing? How do you mean?" Clara smiles brightly, but there's a pinch to her mouth and Danny thinks she's a bit panicked.
He is too - the last thing they need is to lose a child in this forest.
"He said he was going to explore. I think he was looking for the loo."
Or worse: a child lost in this bloody ship.
The Doctor glowers ominously. Of course - now he cares, now that the child is lost on his precious ship. "Well what did he go and do that for? Don't wander off! I told you lot not to wander off!"
Clara sighs patiently, giving the Doctor a fond look and ignoring his rudeness entirely. "Don't worry, I'll fetch him."
Danny balks. Clara probably knows the ship well enough (she clearly spends enough time here), and at least she'd care if Billy was found - unlike the Doctor. But that's precisely the problem - if Clara goes to look for Billy, Danny will be left alone with the Doctor and all the children, and there's nothing that sounds less appealing.
The Doctor must have the same thought because he looks up sharply and stops Clara before she can even turn to go. "Send P.E. instead."
He's expendable loud and clear in the glance the Doctor sends his way.
Clara pauses, torn. Clearly, she'd rather stay with the Doctor than run about searching for Billy. Just as clearly - with the look Clara and the Doctor exchange - finding Billy is not going to be as easy as it sounds. Bigger on the inside. Right.
Danny grits his teeth and offers the Doctor a mocking salute. "Sir, yes Sir. Right away, Sir."
"Danny -" Clara starts, reproachful - as though he were the one starting trouble, when the Doctor can't even bother to get his name or his profession right.
"No, he's right. You stay here and keep an eye on everyone," and he very much includes the Doctor in that. "I'll be back in a tick."
Clara hesitates.
The Doctor harrumphs something that might be agreement. "Try not to get lost, P.E.," and Danny thinks the Doctor is not-so-secretly hoping for the exact opposite. "And don't touch anything!"
Right, and with that properly ominous sendoff... Danny nods and strides off in a direction that looks purposeful before he can change his mind.
He's not sure what he's thinking, willingly going further into the Doctor's blasted ship. Billy will probably come back from the loo without a scratch on him, and it's Danny that will be lost for hours, wandering aimlessly, just as the Doctor warned.
"Billy," he calls out, feeling more foolish by the second, "come on out, mate."
All the alien technology on this ship, and there's not anything to find one lost little boy?
Or maybe there is, and the Doctor's just sending him on a wild goose-chase.
Danny stops calling out after that. He quickly realizes that the ship is far bigger than he'd imagined. He's either going to stumble on Billy through blind luck, or not at all. The best he can do is try to pay attention to which way he came so that he can retrace his steps at the many, varied - frankly, borderline ridiculous - crossroads.
It's down one of those long, branching hallways that Danny first sees the door.
Or doesn't see it, which is perhaps more accurate.
There's something that looks like sort of an ancient, ornate doorknob set right into the wall. Despite all his best judgement, or maybe just because the Doctor told him not to, and it looks harmless enough - Danny twists the handle.
The door appears between one blink and the next; opening just a crack, light spilling out. And maybe part of him wants to find out what secrets the Doctor might be hiding behind the only unmarked door on the whole bloody ship because Danny pushes the door open wider and, when nothing attacks him, steps boldly inside.
It's a bedroom.
That's obvious enough at first glance. Harmless enough.
Only there's a neat row of Doc Martens lined up in front of the wardrobe and Danny changes his mind.
It's the Doctor's bedroom.
Sod it. Danny steps further inside the room, deciding it's high time he learned some of the mysterious Doctor's secrets. Besides, he hardly feels bad about being rude to a man that refuses to even pretend to learn his name.
The bedroom is done in surprisingly warm and neutral colors for a man that wears mostly black. Though the bedspread is shockingly red.
There are bedside tables and a dresser and a vanity with a chair.
A chair with a scandalous scrap of lacy lingerie tossed carelessly over the back. Half under the bed is a single, red high heel. There are dresses hanging in the open wardrobe - next to the Doctor's shirts.
Danny forgets to breathe, for just a moment.
The first thoughts that enter his head are: of course and how could she. It explains all the lying, but... he's old. And an alien.
Common sense prevails at the last moment, filtering belatedly through the darkening haze of his vision when he realizes Clara would never own either the heels or the lacy bit - and certainly not those long, slinky dresses.
Well, that was certainly more than Danny had ever wanted to know about the Doctor's habits. He tries valiantly to scrub the image of the Doctor in heels from his mind.
Gradually, now that he's remembered to breathe, other details start to filter in. There's a small arsenal of lipstick lined up neatly on the vanity, along with what looks like a framed photograph.
When he crosses the room to investigate, he finds a photo of grinning young man in a suit and bowtie kissing a woman who appears to be mostly curls, dressed all in white.
He remembers Clara saying something about how the Doctor used to look like Adrian, and he wonders if this was the man she mentioned. Though, if so, she certainly didn't mention he had a wife.
There's a note on the mirror, scrawled in lipstick: see you around, sweetie. With a lipsticked kiss in lieu of a signature.
Definitely not the Doctor's lingerie, then. And not Clara's (it's not her handwriting).
Feeling vaguely guilty for intruding so thoroughly into the Doctor's privacy, Danny almost leaves. But there's another picture on one of the bedside tables, and he can't deny he's curious.
Two bedside tables: his and hers. Books are stacked precariously on the closer table - a forgotten mug with a lipstick stain between them - while, on the other, the books form an orderly pile around the photograph. Danny picks it up and immediately wishes he hadn't.
It's the woman from the first photograph, only in striking detail. It's an intimate photo, though she's not visibly naked. She's either just woken or half asleep, curled on her side in the same bed that he's standing next to. Her hair is even wilder than the first photograph and her eyes are lidded with sleep, but she's smiling at the person taking the photo - a genuine, stunning smile, filled with such love that it's hard to look at. Even with her eyes half-closed, that same love sparkles there, shining through as though she were really lying on the pillow next to him, always just about to say goodnight or good morning.
With suddenly shaking hands and a sick feeling of guilt, Danny replaces the photograph and turns on his heel to leave, trying not to notice that the top of the dresser is covered in scattered women's jewelry (including a wedding ring) and the kind of bowtie that this Doctor never seems to wear. It's too late not to notice the gun belt underneath the vanity or the knickers at the foot of the bed. The odd way the Doctor's things are almost squeezed in amongst his wife's - like an afterthought or a shrine.
Careful not to disturb anything, Danny flees the Doctor's bedroom, pulling the door shut tight behind him and ignoring the guilt creeping up his neck.
He marches straight back to the console room, following his previous route with a detached auto-pilot.
Well, he wanted to know more about the Doctor. He doesn't know if he's relieved or confused by what he's found - a bedroom he clearly shares with a wife that neither the Doctor or Clara have ever mentioned.
That certainly changes things. Or maybe it doesn't change anything at all.
Right. He'll just go back, tell them he couldn't find Billy and let the Doctor show off whatever clever idea he's come up with. Nothing has changed.
Danny nearly trips over Billy just at the last intersection before the console room, and he stops up short. "Billy! Where have you been? We told you to stay put!"
"I only went to the loo," Billy complains. In no sort of mood, Danny puts on his most unimpressed face and Billy quickly repents, eyes going wide. "I... er... sorry, Mr. Pink!"
Danny sighs. "Just ask first next time, yeah? Don't want you getting lost." He ushers the young boy around the corner. "Found him."
The Doctor barely spares them a glance from where he's fiddling with the controls. "And see that you don't lose him again. Or any of them. See, Clara? I told you they'd be fine."
Right then; business as usual.
He can't wait to get off this bloody ship.